The Night Before Christmas

We hosted Christmas Eve this year for the first time, and really enjoyed the time spent as a family.  Although the table looked pretty festive (if i do say so myself!), the dinner didn't turn out as expected.  We planned on having a roast since that would be pretty simple and we wouldn't be in the kitchen all evening.  Well, I bought the wrong kind of roast apparently, because it wasn't the shredding kind that soaks up all the yummy juices. Instead, Kevin just sliced it up and put it back into the juice in hopes that it would be more juicy, haha.  But hey, we were grateful to have a nice dinner together!  I also used my pressure cooker for the first time (after calling Aunt Lori and Uncle Dean for advice) since I didn't want to have a disaster.  I am happy to report that no disaster ensued, and we had yummy mashed potatoes to go with our roast and carrots.

I thought it was funny how the babies sat at the head of the table in their high chairs!

After dinner, we opened up our Christmas books from Grandma and Grandpa Meador. 

 Then, we decorated sugar cookies.  I want this to be a tradition, and let me tell you, Kinley was all about it :)  She wanted to be Miss Independent and shake those sprinkles herself!  We were cracking up as she shook the sprinkles and flinched as the sprinkles got near her eyes, haha.

 Brooke REALLY wanted to get in on the action, so I am sure she will love the tradition next year.

 Everyone headed home around 7, so we enjoyed a little bit of time with our sweet little girl before tucking her into bed.

Then it was time to play Santa :)  Kevin put Brooke's baby walker/stroller together as I wrapped a few last minute presents.  We didn't set out any cookies for Santa since Brooke is still too young to understand, but I am excited to do that next year!

Christmas Sunday

I always loved the Christmas program growing up, and although this was no Morgan Hill 1st Ward program, haha, we still enjoyed singing songs and being reminded of the reason we celebrate this season.  In YW, we had planned a nice luncheon for the girls, they participated in a gift exchange, and then we played (and sang) carols with my pipe chimes.  This was a tradition growing up that we would always do with the Tilley family.  Well, at one of my bridal showers, the theme was "traditions", and Sister Tilley gave me my own set of chimes.  I was thrilled to have a chance to use them, and I think the girls enjoyed them as well.

 We couldn't miss an opportunity for Sunday pictures by the tree with our sweet little girl!  Christmas is so much better with a baby :)  Everyone told me that her first Christmas would be so special, and they were right.

Decking the Halls/Frosty The Snowman

 Although we moved into our house right before Christmas last year (like the 19th!), we didn't decorate for the holidays!  I was excited to decorate this year, so we purchased our tree before I went to California so it would be ready to put up after Thanksgiving.

The little tree was the tree we purchased our first Christmas together while still living in Provo.  I still love it, and I love the story behind it.  I had gone to visit Kimberly in NYC in November, and she had her tree up and it looked beautiful.  I loved her fruit ornaments, red beads, and snowflakes.  Well, while I was visiting her, she took me shopping to get the supplies I needed to replicate her tree :)  The first year in our Florida house, my parents gave us money for Christmas to buy a big 9 ft tree that I was SUPER excited about. Kevin was less than thrilled to have to store that huge box the other 11 months of the year, but it worked out great because one strand of lights was on the fritz, so after Christmas, we took it back to Costco and that was one less thing we had to store (and move) when we came to Texas.  Well, we repurchased that tree this year...but the box fits nicely in a closet above the garage, so it is a win for everyone!!

Brooke loved the lights and would try to grab at the ornaments any chance she got!  We are in for trouble next year I imagine since she will be very mobile :)

 On the 14th, Jerry and Bev arranged a fun evening as a family to go see a production of "Frosty the Snowman" at Casa Manana, which is a children's theatre.  Before the show, they came by our house so Bev could give Brooke her Christmas stocking.  It was definitely a labor of love, and it is beautiful!!  Brooke mostly wanted to eat it, which was not much of a surprise, haha!  I know that she will treasure it for years to come.  Kevin's grandma made his stocking, and Bev made my stocking the first year we were married. And now Brooke has one of her own.

 I made sure we had coordinating outfits the evening of the performance so we could snap a family picture for our Christmas cards.  We were dying laughing the whole time as Jerry was trying to get Brooke to smile, but in the end, we had a winner!

Brooke took a little cat nap on the way to the show, and I think she really did enjoy the show.  She was kicking her legs and staring at the stage.  Kinley loved it too :)

It was FREEZING outside, which is why Brooke has oversized mittens on!  But hey, at least she was warm.  Well, except for the inch of her leg that is showing, poor girl.  She is outgrowing all her pants.

And last, but not, least, a photo op with Santa.  We weren't going to see Santa, but then I worried that I would regret it, so we decided to go the weekend before Christmas.  Long story short, we ended up waiting for a LONG time to get pictures, and there was a lot of anticipation for the 15 seconds she actually sat on his lap, but hey, we have our picture :)  She didn't seem to mind Santa, but I was a BIT disappointed we didn't get her to smile.  Maybe next year.  She still looked darling in her Christmas dress though!

Giving Thanks

Wow, it is a bit embarrassing how behind I have become on blogging, but we can't forget about Thanksgiving.  Brooke and I flew back from California the night before Thanksgiving, and Kimberly flew in on Thanksgiving day.  We picked her up from the airport on the way up to Flower Mound.

 We enjoyed a yummy meal together, then spent the evening relaxing.  Brooke was a bit out of sorts, but she had done so well our whole trip with the time change, etc, so I think it was finally catching up to her.

Saturday night we went to Prairie Lights, which is an outdoor light exhibition near our house.  You drive through a 2 mile stretch of the park, with over 600 light displays and over 4 million lights!  We didn't go last year, but would see the cars backed up for miles to get it.  We really enjoyed it, so this might become an annual tradition.  We even paid extra to go into the Magic Forest (where you walk among the lights), and to see the holiday musical with the "aspiring Broadway actors". The show was a bit of a disappointment, but it "snowed" on the audience at the end of the show, so what more can you ask for??  

 I adore this picture of Brooke with her Auntie.  She was so bundled because it was freezing!

We are so glad Kimberly could join us for Brooke's first Thanksgiving.  I am SO glad she moved to Denver because flights are super cheap between here and there :)  Maybe next time we will venture to Colorado.  When it warms up, of course!

6 Month Snapshot

Her sixth month was quite busy, but we continue to enjoy every moment with Brooke.  Things to note: She rolled over by self from tummy to back, refused her bottle at church (which luckily did not become a "thing"), threw-up for first time (all over Mommy), spent the night on an aerobed with Mom in the nursery because she was having a really hard time staying asleep, sat up for 10 seconds on her own without falling forwards, said "mamamama" A LOT, pushed up on knees and toes during tummy time, waved at Daddy, tried solids (and LOVED them), went on her first trip to California, learned to give kisses to her Grammie, pushed herself up on her hands during tummy time, grabbed at her reflection in the mirror and sat and smiled at it, and grew taller because we had to raise the exersaucer!

We also finally transitioned Brooke from her bassinet to her pack-n-play in our room.  The night before she threw-up, she was moving around a lot in her sleep.  I was up multiple times because I wasn't feeling good, and every time I woke up, she was in a new (cramped) position in her bassinet.  This was when I knew it was time for a change, but I wasn't ready to put her upstairs yet! I really struggled with this, because I figure that at 6 months, she probably should be in her own room, but I just wasn't ready. We all sleep great with Brooke in our room, and when I suggested moving her, Kevin responded with, "No, not yet!"  Not that he wakes up with her in the night, but I think he likes knowing that she is close to us, and seeing her in the morning as he is getting ready for work. 

The above picture was the old set-up, and the picture below was taken the morning after her first night in the pack-n-play.  She looks so chubby to me, haha :)

Brooke did awesome on her first flight.  I was really nervous about traveling alone, but we flew early in the morning and I nursed her as we took off, she slept for 2 hours, then cuddled with me for the last hour of the flight.  Oh, and the best part, was that we had a whole row to ourselves which really made it nice!  

 Grammie and Grandpa were SO excited to see Brooke, and we were equally as excited. 

 Giving kisses to Grammie. This was seriously hysterical. My mom was kissing on Brooke's cheeks, then Brooke turned and started gumming on her face.  This went back and forth for a good 10 minutes! I have some really great videos with Brooke's sounds effects as she gave "kisses".  Brooke also would smile and kick her little legs whenever Grandpa would talk to her.  He really got a kick out of that, and it has continued whenever we facetime, or if I put the phone on speaker when we are talking. I really think she recognizes their faces and their voices.

 Enjoying some last minute sniggles before we headed to the airport!

 We also enjoyed Brooke's first Thanksgiving and a visit from her Auntie Kimberly, but that's for another post!  

Roomie Reunion

So, this happened 2 months ago, but I can't omit it!  I had the most wonderful weekend with these 4 girls.  If you only saw the email chain we had going, you would think the reunion might never happen!  Trying to coordinate 5 different people's schedules, who live in 5 different states, and who have different jobs and family commitments, is no easy task! But I have to say, I am so grateful that it worked out and we had the weekend the rekindle our college friendships. 

Kevin was such a good sport and took pictures of us before we headed out to Ft. Worth to have dinner and go to Billy Bobs.  The picture below really cracks me up.  This one didn't make it to facebook, haha, but we were dying.  We were laughing to hard we woke Brooke up, so Kevin had the pleasure of trying to get her back to sleep after we left. 

I really needed a weekend spent with these girls laughing, talking, and reminiscing about the good ol' days :)  Although a LOT has happened since we all met and lived together, but it still felt the same as we spent time together.  This was back in 2003...

And this is now...

Looking forward to the next one!!  (Side note: Do you love our matching sweaters, haha.   I already had this sweater from last year, but on our shopping excursion to the outlets, I convinced them all that they needed one too!)